Procurement Process of Financial Service Provider

The process below outlines the steps involved in vendor identification for a direct cash transfer project. In this type of project, a selected agent transfers specified funds from CRS/Partner to selected beneficiaries. The agent is a service provider and can be a bank, a mobile phone operator, remittance agent or Local Transfer Agent, etc. Selecting a vendor corresponds with a regular request for services providers.

  1. Project Staff determines the Modality – Bank,Mobile Money,Remittance/Local Transfer Agent, Cash
  1. Project staff determine value, number of transfers and number of beneficiaries.
  1. Project staff to determine criteria for service provider selection as detailed in the FSP Vendor Scorecard
  1. Project staff raise a Request for Goods/Services (RFG/RFS) using a Purchase Requisition Form (PRF). The PRF formulation focuses on the need to identify a service provider who can deliver specific installments to specific beneficiaries on agreed location(s).
  1. Authorizing Official[1] reviews purchase request and budget/DSPN impact then approves.
  1. The ProcurementOfficialin collaboration with the CFW Programming Team and Finance Team develop the RFP to tender the services as they will be over $5,000 USD.
  1. The Procurement Official will circulate the RFP to identified vendors. The RFP will request written, sealed bids to be delivered by the predetermined date.
  2. Develop an email account solely for procurement
  3. It is mandatory that the communication letter (if hand delivered) or email (if electronically delivered) is written exactly the same for each vendor to ensure transparency.
  4. It is also mandatory to offer a mechanism for the vendors to ask questions. Once questions are submitted, the Procurement Team will compile them and send the responses to ALL Vendors solicited for transparency purposes.
  5. Authorizing Official reviews and approves the RFP. If the Authorizing Official does not approve, revise the RFP as per comments.
  6. Bid Opening - After the deadline for bids, aBid Committeeopens and reviews all bid information for adherence to the RFP guidelines. Each Bid Committee member signs each bid.
  7. Procurement Official collates and organizesall the bids and sets a time for the Purchasing Committee to meet and review the bids and createstheBid Comparison Form
  1. Procurement Official formsa Purchasing Committee using Program, Finance and Procurement Staff. This is useful so as to include staff from various units to ensure financial and technical programmatic information is accessed during the decision process. The composition of purchase committee should be approved by CR/Executive Director or Head of Operations.
  1. Bid Committee Meeting is conducted to compare quotations/bids and conduct vendor selection. Selection is done based on vendor criteria outlined in the RFP.
  1. Procurement Official to capture information in vendor/bid comparison sheet.
  1. Head of Operations (or designee) to review and approveproposed vendor (due diligence, Bridger Software).
  1. Administration staff, with input from Project Staff, to draft contract template for service providers specifying the terms and conditions of the cash transfer methodology. In case the service provider only accepts its own contract template (often the case) CRS/Partner can sign the service provider contract after legal review. It is recommended to add an annex to the contract which captures essential clauses for CRS/Partner or back-donor.
  1. Authorizing Official (Delegate) to review and approve the contract in line with Regional contract review process.
  1. Country Representative/Director to review and sign 2 copies of contract with selected vendors (CR/Director or delegate signs).
  1. Operations/Programs staff explain the content of the contract in detail with each vendor before getting it signed by the selected vendor.

[1] The authorizing official depends on value of PRF and is to be followed as per the guidelines of the respective agency.